Kentucky Aluminum Network Emphasizes the Impact of the Aluminum Industry in Kentucky

Aluminum industry representatives as well as economic development officials in Northwest Kentucky and Greater Owensboro have formed the Kentucky Aluminum Network (KAN) in an effort to help the aluminum industry remain competitive in the region and throughout Kentucky.

In the seven counties of northwest Kentucky around the cities of Henderson and Owensboro, the aluminum industry employs over 5,000 people at over 30 establishments with an annual payroll of nearly $300 million. With an employment multiplier of about 2.5, the industry accounts for 16,000 direct and indirect jobs in northwest Kentucky alone.

According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, across Kentucky aluminium employs nearly 15,000 people in 120 facilities located in 53 Kentucky cities and towns. The average wage of primary metal jobs is $52,336 compared to $33,800 in private sector jobs. Primary shipments totaled over $4.3 billion in 2005 making Kentucky number one in the industry. Kentucky is home to two of the 14 smelters operating in the United States. Century and Rio Tinto Alcan's combined production represents 16 percent of the total production capacity in the U.S.

KAN includes members many of the large and small establishments linked to the aluminum. The group is currently formulating a list of priorities to share with local, state, and national elected officials that impact the future competitiveness of the aluminum industry in Kentucky.

EDC Statement Regarding the Closure of Hon Owensboro Facility

HNI, the parent company of the local Hon Company informed employees today of their intent to close the Owensboro Hon facility effective this spring.

"We are saddened by the news about the closing of the Owensboro Hon plant by spring 2010. Our thoughts are with the families of the 145 employees impacted by this decision. The local governments, state government and EDC worked closely with the union leaders and plant officials at Hon Owensboro for many months to fight keep these jobs in Owensboro. We exhausted all alternatives and in the end offered a competitive package of incentives and training grants valued at over $2 million," said EDC President/ CEO Nick Brake.

"Our attention will now turn to helping the members of the Hon family through this transition. We will form a Rapid Response team and work closely with GRADD and the Owensboro Community and Technical College to best meet the needs of these displaced employees."

Emerging Ventures Continues to Have Positive Impact

After two years in operation, the Emerging Ventures Center for Innovation has made a significant impact on the entrepreneurial climate in Greater Owensboro.

Second year numbers recently released by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. that oversees Kentucky's Innovation and Commercialization Centers indicate that Emerging Ventures far exceeded the benchmarks set by the state in terms of startup company growth and high tech job creation during last year.

Emerging Ventures located seven high tech companies last year, retained four high tech companies from the previous year, and reported expansions in three other companies. The result was 22 high tech jobs in which the average salary was more than two and a half times the per capita income of the Owensboro metro area.

Additionally, Emerging Ventures assisted companies in raising nearly $1 million in private investment funds from sources such as venture capital and angel investors. Emerging Ventures raised nearly $300,000 in funding from the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. for Owensboro-based high tech companies.

Emerging Ventures, founded in 2007 by the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., provides technical support and startup assistance to entrepreneurs, scientists, and small business people perfecting and maturing their ideas and business concepts. Emerging Ventures is part of the Kentucky network of Innovation and Commercialization Centers.

Changes to Downtown Market Square

A change of plans in Owensboro's downtown revitalization could save the city almost two million dollars and lead to enhanced private investment in downtown. Planners are rethinking the market square plans now that the Executive Inn land is giving them more room to work with downtown.

Under the original downtown masterplan, businesses on the block north of the courthouse would be flattened to make room for a market square used as an outdoor event space and farmer's market, but officials say that plan presented too many logistical problems.

The new idea is to create a direct path from the courthouse to the new waterfront through that block.

Downtown development director Fred Reeves says everything that might have been planned for the market square can now go on the Executive Inn property. The path, called a paseo by urban designers, will create opportunities for private development on the block adjacent to the new downtown hotel and along Veterans Blvd. that were not a part of the original plan. In addition to saving money with the redesign, the private investment will keep more downtown property on the tax rolls.

To view the complete redesign of Market Square, please visit the EDC home page at http://edc.owensboro.com/

Expansion of Health Care Industry and New Hospital will have Significant Economic Impact on Region

The expansion of the health care industry through the construction of a new hospital will have a significant economic impact on the Greater Owensboro region, according to an analysis by the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corporation (GO-EDC).

Hospitals make substantial contributions to local and regional economies through the purchase of goods and services and the employment of large numbers of workers. An analysis of data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics by GO-EDC demonstrates that health care is a base industry in the Owensboro metropolitan statistical area, meaning that each dollar in earnings and jobs for employment create additional earnings and jobs in the region. The investment by the Owensboro Medical Health System (OMHS) in the local economy with a new hospital will lead to 500 new long-term health care jobs over the next five years, which will ultimately translate to a total of 800 net new jobs in the region and over $24 million in new payroll earnings in the five county area. OMHS current annual payroll is $162,936,094, employing 3,147, an increase of 1,000 people since 1995.

The jobs and earnings numbers are not counting the construction phase of the project or the jobs that come along with new physicians recruited to the region as a result of the new hospital. The construction phase alone, according to BEA multipliers, will create over 4,000 jobs, $450,000,000 in new output and $139,000,000 in additional earnings for the region.

“Little attention is paid hospitals from an economic development perspective, and this is unfortunate,” said EDC President Nick Brake. “The lack of attention is, in part; because of the perception that health care is only a locally serving activity that has little impact on driving a metropolitan area's economic prosperity. Evidence from around the country is showing us otherwise. Hospitals are significant contributors to the economic base of regions. This analysis indicates that is the case here in Owensboro.”

Recent research at the University of New Orleans (Nelson, 2009) indicates that hospitals are substantial contributors to the economic base of slow-growth and larger metros. The study indicated that hospitals in small metropolitan regions, such as Owensboro, have the potential to evolve as a significant export industry because they often provide basic care in surrounding geographic areas. The expansion of OMHS as an 11 county regional medical center means that health care will likely grow as an export industry, adding significantly to the regional economic base. For more information about the New Orleans study please visit http://edq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/23/3/242

Another significant measure of export revenue from the health care industry is the percentage of Medicare received from Medicare patients outside the metropolitan area. According to data supplied by OMHS, roughly $75 million in net payments, or 20 percent, come from patients outside the Owensboro MSA. The median percentage in the University of New Orleans analysis was 12 percent.

Additional data analyzed from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a stronger concentration of health care related occupations in the Greater Owensboro region than nationally, another indicator of the significance of the health care sector to the overall regional economic base. The average salary for health practitioner occupations in the Greater Owensboro region is over $52,000 per year, more than double the median income of the Owensboro MSA.

Click here to see full analysis, including BEA multipliers and BLS location quotients.

Hollison investment demonstrates high tech potential in Owensboro

The latest investment by the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. of $200,000 in Hollison Technologies, a startup biotech company that will have its headquarters in the Owensboro, shows just how far Owensboro has advanced in developing the infrastrcuture to support high tech company growth.

Hollison's Kevin Humphrey indicates it was the infrastructure in Owensboro that made the difference for the company. "That was fantastic," Kevin Humphrey of Utica, one of four partners in the company, said of the state investment. "I credit Madison and eMerging Ventures as much as I do our idea."

The Emerging Ventures Seed Fund, created two years ago by the City of Owensboro, invested $50,000 in Hollison. That investment opened the door for the KSTC investment of $200,000 and has created other opportunities. The EDC hosted a reception for the company to help identify additional angel investors.

Hollison will also be a tennent in the new Centre for Business and Research, the 37,000 square foot high tech business accelerator located in a former tobacco warehouse on Allen Street. The Centre is scheduled to open later this year.

Hollison has developed technology for the detection and identification of chemical, biological and radiological contamination in food commodities, processed food and beverages.

"It's exciting to see that kind of state investment," said Madison Silvert, vice president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp. and executive director of its eMerging Ventures Center for Innovation.

"That's a good-sized investment," he said. "It's the largest award we've secured from them so far. We're seeing the emergence of a high-tech atmosphere in Owensboro."

An emeging high tech atmosphere --thanks to investments by the local community in infrastructure such as the eMerging Ventures Seed Fund, the Centre for Business and Research, and the eMerging Ventures program at EDC-- will help Owensboro to nurture the growth of high tech startup companies like Hollison.

Governor: "There's no place in Kentucky that has more going on right now"

"There's no place in Kentucky that has more going on right now than you all," Gov. Steve Beshear told a crowd gathered in Ownsboro on Wednesday to watch him break ground for the first 2.3 miles of the long-awaited bypass extension that will create the new I-64/ I-65 Corridor.

He was talking about the $120 million worth of construction planned for downtown Owensboro which includes a new hotel and convention center, a new $385 million hospital planned between Daniels Lane and Pleasant Valley Road, the emerging plant biotech cluster being created around Kentucky BioProcessing and the newly planned Centre for Business and Research, recent expansions at US Bank, Unilever, Swedish Match, and Sazerac, the soon-to-be-completed Western Kentucky University-Owensboro Campus as well as the $37.6 million road project.

Thank you Governor for your investments in our region! Thank you for recognizing our willingness to invest in ourselves!